Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It felt fitting to have an evening post about Art Basel with the eve of the new year poking at us. Moving along, nothing much to say about these photos other than that it was the perfect outfit to romp around the streets of Wynwood in to be comfortable and feel cool and fresh all at once.

I picked up this leather pony hair top from Ksubi in the spring and while I don't wear it that much (there aren't that many occasions that call for it), it can be oh-so-perfect at times. Especially when it's a tad cool yet still warm, aka the exact definition of winter Miami nights.

The girl on the right side of the shots is my bff Lisa, who resides in Miami and who is always such a gracious host, as well as an awesome partner in crime for all the things that go down during Basel. You might also remember her from my MIMO Market post? Anyway, she's amazing and it's in large part thanks to her that I always have such a great time in Miami.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Just a quick hello to wish everyone a merry Christmas! Hope you're all having an amazing time with family, eating a ton of delicious food and receiving (as well as giving) loads of presents. Sending lots of love to all of you from my family to yours. xx

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Another day, another post about Art Basel on this blog! Moving along... Andre 3000 presented a super rad exhibition in Wynwood called I Feel Ya, presented in collaboration with SCAD, which is an architect school. Together they set out to explore street art, fashion and film through installations combining all those mediums. The vibe was very socially satirical, making the works extremely interesting without feeling pretentious. It's incredible to get a chance to see inside the minds of some of these artists and the way their imagination and brains work. Their interpretation of everyday things was anything but dull.

In one of the rooms, an army of duplicated mannequins were lined up in rows wearing jumpsuits that each read an ironic statement about the world we live in. My favorites, seen below, were: "Obviously Oblivious", "Children of the Cornbread", "Art of Fart" and "Thinking Deeply About Shallow Shit". The space was really cool and the exhibit was fascinating. I love when art makes you think but doesn't seem elitist, which is one of the main reasons for why I enjoy Art Basel so much.

The second part of this post showcases pieces by a German artist duo named Herakut. They actually had an entire solo exhibit put on in a giant warehouse in the middle of Wynwood. Their pieces were incredibly powerful, their imagination absolutely insane, making their work some of the most interesting and peculiar art I've ever seen. Their influences range from extremely savage to bordering on existentialism, with graphics so haunting it would be impossible to not be somewhat shaken, or intrigued by them, at the very least.

You'll also notice another very powerful piece among the ones presented here with the face of a woman and the caption "Stop Telling Women to Smile". This poster was plastered on the streets everywhere and I initially loved it because the words really resonated with me. Ever since I can remember, there were always random men yelling at me in the street to tell me to smile. I had to take a picture of it. When I later googled it I found out it was a whole moevement against street harassment started by artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. Learn more about it by clicking here. I love social movements like this that empower women and I always have so much admiration for people who actually feel passionate enough about a topic to take a stand.

The rest of the photos are of us hanging out and having fun in the south Florida sunshine. I miss it so much as I type this from the cold, snowy Northern land. If you can't get enough of all this art don't forget to check out my previous posts about Basel by clicking here!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Our third day at Art Basel was so full and we took so many pictures that I had to split this post in two. The art is so interesting and beautiful that I wanted to make sure I showed as much as possible. One of the highlights of my trip was visiting the Terry O'Neill gallery, a photographer famous for having shot the most interesting people of the 60s. He blew up some of his most famous photos, like the ones of Brigitte, Raquel and Sinatra, among others, and exposed the giant frames in a small industrial space that provided the perfect backdrop to his pieces. Nothing short of amazing.

Another gallery that was particularly interesting, and that happened to be right across the street from the Terry O'Neill space, was named Lulu Laboratorium and boasted some really fun pop art. With that pop art influence comes societal irony by definition, with super interesting pieces denouncing the 1% through a dollar bill selfie, works that poked fun at Yeezy and smokers, for example. Each piece was more fun and interesting than the next.

Those two places were by far some of my favorites of the entire trip. Stay tuned as I roll out the second part of day this week!